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Lyndal Steiner |
Prayer Requests:
LST
We ask you to pray for us especially this last week before the LST campaign officially starts! We're hoping to get even more sign ups before May 21st.
Visa Problems
We found last week that our children have not been legally registered with the government for the last two years. We did not realize this AT ALL and it was quite a shock to discover by chance when we happened to be at the foreigner's office. They informed us that when we fill out all the documents to get them registered there will be a penalty, but what it will be, we don't know. We both have permanent visas, so we are praying that it will not be too severe since it's just the kids and they are underage.
Antwines
Clyde and Gwen will be arriving this week and will be doing their annual teaching and support for the Dresden congregation here. We look forward to their visit and pray that they will have a safe flight.
Depression
We have several people in our group here struggling with depression at the moment. We would appreciate prayers on their behalf and also for wisdom for the rest of our group so that we may serve them the best we can.
Funds for Furlough
We are still raising funds for the rest of our furlough expenses. We ask for your prayers as we plan our furlough amidst the outreach activities that we are also planning. If you feel that you can contribute financially to this need, it would be very much appreciated--just write us an email.
Martin Family
We still ask prayers for the Martin Family as they start to really feel the effects of reverse culture shock. This will be a long adjustment, but we know that they will be bouyed by your many prayers! Hannah is doing well in school and is making friends, so we also offer a prayer of thanks for that.
We Thank You!
We want to thank you so much for your prayers and support in all that we do here in Dresden. We truly feel the power of your prayers and we appreciate also the care and concern that you show for this small group of believers.
May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.
--Romans 15:13
Are You A Missionary?
Are you a missionary interested in updating your newsletter or website format? Contact our former co-worker and web designer, Steve Martin, who designed our newsletter page.
Links:
"For God, who said, "Let light shine out of darkness," made his light shine in our hearts to give us the light of the knowledge of God's glory displayed in the face of Christ." -- 2 Corinthians 4:6
New Kids On The Block
Since we first moved into our new location, there has been evidence of vandalism. We are apparently in a part of the city where that occurs more often, as evidenced by the scratches on nearly every lock from the outside. But more suprising was coming to the church each day to discover that someone had ripped up and thrown our temporary "Gemeinde Christi" sign on the ground. Though it may sound strange, we were actually thrilled! Someone has an opinion about us! If light vandalism counts as suffering then we are rejoicing for sure. We put up another temporary sign each day curious, rather than irritated, as to how long it would be there and even more curious each time it was torn down or written on. We are certainly no longer in an apathetic neighborhood, which may have to do with being in a busier neighborhood. As we gradually
became more official-looking and put up information in our windows, arranged our meeting room and put up a VERY permanent sign (which was keyed the next day :-) ), we tried to keep in mind that our appearance, our activities and we ourselves are there for the glory of God and nothing more. Perhaps if we show our constance and steadfastness in the neighborhood and continue being open to the community, our neighborhood vandals might become curious enough to come and see what we're really about. Many other people have certainly become curious about us and we've even had a few conversations and new participants. We're rejoicing in these tiny "sufferings" and also in the new interest of people in the neighborhood, all the while praying that every little thing we do shows glory to God alone.
Gearing Up
We are very excited that we are finally approaching the countdown to the Let's Start Talking (LST) campaign for this summer. Dresden hosted an LST campaign two years ago with great results and we are excited to host a team again. Our team will be two ladies from Pepperdine University once again. As mentioned in our last newsletter, Spencer Goad and Ben Peterson will be staying after their campaign with the Andersons from Oklahoma Christian for an extra five weeks in order to fill in during our absence. They will pick up right after the LST workers leave at the end of June while we are on our scheduled furlough to the U.S.A. We are currently in the process of distributing flyers and answering online registration
for the LST campaign and we ask you to take a moment out of your day now and then to pray for a great turnout and a fruitful campaign.
Church Housewarming Party
In April, the congregation here gave a housewarming party to invite all of our contacts to see our new meeting place. We had an excellent turn out including a man from the building we're located in, several play group contacts, LST contacts and friends from other congregations. Our new meeting rooms are located in a busier part of the city and are on the ground floor. We have windows looking into our front meeting room from the sidewalk. Frequently passers-by will stop and look at our information displays in the window, which briefly describe our activities and meeting times. Our address is Tieckstraße 10, Dresden, Germany 01099
if you'd like to look at it on a google map. We are in a part of the city called the Neustadt on the north side of the Elbe river.
New Contacts
We have had several new contacts in the English play group, Monday and Thursday evening bible studies and in our Sunday bible class and worship. A couple of these contacts have simply seen our signs outside the building or our website on the internet. We are very encouraged that people are finding us and we are praying that they continue to read God's word and ask questions about Jesus and the bible. These people are truly searching for something that's missing in their lives and we are enjoying showing them what we believe to be truly meaningful in this day and age, as well as enjoying making new friends.
Lyndal Steiner
A person who has definitely been working for God's glory is Lyndal Steiner from Little Rock, AR. Lyndal intended to take a year off after graduating high school to do mission work abroad before starting her first year at Harding University. She raised enough funds to spend eight months in Mumbai, India, but everything fell through when the missionaries she was to work with claimed it was too dangerous for her to live there. Her supporters encouraged her to find other congregations to work with and somehow she ended up spending around 4 weeks in Dresden among several other places. Though we didn't know her from Eve, we could think of plenty of things to keep her busy helping out the church and our family here in Dresden. God truly sent us an angel. Since the beginning of the year different activities have been snowballing and we just don't know what we
would have done without a little extra help. Lyndal did everything from clean church building windows to passing out LST flyers and much more in between. Thanks so much, Lyndal!
Furlough
Well, it's that time again! We will be taking our biennial furlough back to the States this summer instead of the spring, since Olivia began school this last year. They only take off around 6 weeks over here for summer break, so we will have a whirlwind visit, but we hope to see as many of you as possible. Here is our schedule for furlough:
June 25-July 1: Amarillo, TX
July 1-July 10: Oklahoma City
July 10-July 13: Searcy, AR
July 14-August 4: St. Petersburg, FL
If you would like to get together with us, just write us an email so we can make it happen! We look forward to seeing you soon.
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